Presser-foot for sewing-machines



(No Model.) I L. A. HARRISON.

PRBssBR. FOOT FOR SEWING MACHINES. No. 438,623. Patented Oct. 21, 1890..

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the accompanying drawings,isaspecification siderable degree, being practically perfect for UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUISA ANN HARRISON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PRESSER-FOOT FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 438,623, dated October 21, 1890.

Application filed October 8, 1888.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI, LOUISA ANN HARRISON, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sewing-Machines, of which the following, reference being had to sufliciently full and complete to enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the improvement which I have made and of the parts of a sewing-machine adjacent thereto. Fig. 2 is a plan of the improvement detached from the machine, and Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same.

For the purpose of sewing seams, particularly overlapping seams, of heavy cloth, and more especially those of more than two thicknesses of cloth, it is important that all the thicknesses of cloth should be moved equally by the feed-dog, and as the feed-dog in its feedingreciprocation exertsanirregularpressure upon the presser-foot it is in practice difficult to feed the different layers of cloth evenly, particularly if they are thick and heavy. This improvement is intended to obviate this difficulty and does so to a very conwoolen cloth of ordinary weights. The improvement resides in the structure of the presserfoot and in its attachment to the resser-bar.

In the drawings, A, Fig. l, is the head of the machine. Bis the needle-bar, C is the presser-bar, D is the work-plate, and E is the feed-dog. These are of ordinary construction, and the feed-dog E is the feed-dog of an ordinary four-motion-feed machine. Upon the lower extremity of the presser-bar O is a clamping-screw c. The presser-foot is provided with a yoke cl, (shown in plan in Fig. 2,) which yoke fits around the shank of the screw cand is clamped between the inner surface of the head of said screw and the lower surface of the presser-bar or of a nut or collar 0 upon the end of the presser-bar. From this yoke d, on the side from which the cloth is fed, is a curved neck 01, which is pierced at its lower end for the reception of a pivot (1 as shown in the drawings, Figs. 1 and 3. The shoe of the presser-foot is marked F. It has a cen- Serial No. 287.491. (No model.)

tral boss F, which is slotted to receive the end of the curved neck cl, which is projected from the yoke (Z. The fit between the neck cl and the slot in the boss F 'is not to be a close or snug fit, but such afit as would allow a tolerably thin piece of writing-paper to be inserted between the boss and the neck, and the pivot 61 should be fast to one of the parts neck or bossand have an easy fit in the other to accommodate slight. lateral inequalities in the run of the seam. The shoe has a needle-throat f, and the toe and heel of the shoe F are turned upward, as shown in the drawings, Figs. 1 and 3. It will be observed that this shoe is thus hinged to the neck, which projects from the presser-bar a little in advance of the usual place of attachment of the presser-foot. A pivot d is thus brought pretty close to the needle-bar, and is about the same distance in rear of the needle-bar that it is above the work. When the feeddog E rises to take hold of the cloth, its principal pressure upon the cloth being a little in advance of the pivot 51 the shoe F rocks a little upon the pivot d and somewhatrelieves the pressure at the point of first engagement, so that the upper surface of the cloth is not at the point of feeding resisted in its motion as much as it otherwise would be, and hence is fed more evenly and with less slip upon the lower surface of the cloth which is engaged by the feed-dog. It will be noticed that in an ordinary stitch the teeth of the feed-dog at the time of engagement with the work are disposed, as shown in Fig. 1, behind as well as in front of the pivot (1 and thus the closest engagement of the teeth is with the work already sewed, and the pressure is lessened somewhat on the unstitched work. Probably this is one of the reasons why reaming is avoided by the use of this attachment.

I consider it important that the pivot (1 should be somewhat nearer the needle than would ordinarily be the case if the pivot were immediately beneath the presser-bar, yet as there is a considerable variation in sewingmachines as to the distance of the presser-bar from the needle-bar this point cannot be stated more definitely than by saying that probably the pivot should be somewhat less than half an inch above the lower surface of the presser-foot and somewhat more than onequarter of an inch behind the n'eedle-baigit being desirable that the two measurements shall be nearly equal, and that the vertical measure, it either, should be slightly the greater, although this last is of comparatiyely small importance.

The needle-throatf, as will be observed by reference to Fig. 2, is enlarged or made wider than is necessary for the passage of the nee dle and the stitching by having a section of the foot upon the back side removed. This is to provide this additional width of throat. This affords means whereby the work may be observed close to or at the point of the operation of the needle,the enlargement of the throat acting as an observation-hole, so to speak.

I am aware that presser-feet have been pivoted to presser-bars before. The patent to Orville Brewster, of April 14, 1874, No. 149,714, shows such a device; but it dilfers from that herein shown in the arrangement and relation of the needle-throat to the foot, and in other particulars. Such a device is also shown by thepatent to Albert Bingham, No. 135,191, dated January 28, 1873. But I do not claim the devices shown or describedin said patents. My foot is wide, with straight and continuous sides, useful as guides in stitching. It has a central and longitudinal needlethroat, not a lateral one. The pressure on the cloth is always practically equal onboth sides of. the needle. There is no transverse notch to interfere with the run of the cloth. The broad slot'from the front to the needle-throat allows inspection of the work as it is running, and the place of the stitches is absolutely free from pressure until the stitches are set.

I claim as my invention and desire to se cure by Letters Patent 1. A presser-t'oot F, for sewing-machines, made with straight and parallel sides and upwardly-curved ends, and provided on or near its median line with the boss F, which presser foot is pierced on its median line in front of said boss witha needle throat, and is slotted from said needle-throat to'its front edge, as shown atfi in combination witlrthe neck d and yoke (1, attached to thepresserbar 0, the pivot (1 and the presser-bar O, substantially as described.

The combination of the yoke d,tl 1c neck (1, with the hinged presser-foot F F, the presser-bar O, and suitable means'for clamping in fixed relations said yoke and presserbar, substantially as described.

' LOUISA ANN HARRISON.

\Vitnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, Ed, .I. M. DOLAN. 

